Another Classic Sea Ray almost ready to float again

[geo737]

Hi gang. thanks for all the suggestions regarding my fuel issue. I am happy to report that today was a good day for the boat. I had purchased a reman carb from a company called Jet Performance. They have a line of re-manufactured marine carburetors. I'm sure there are others that have quality products as well, I just just happen to know of them from the automotive performance aftermarket. The outright purchase was less than the quote from the local marine shop for them to send out and have rebuilt. I thiught of doing it myself, but I have not always been successful with quadrajets- 2bbls ok, 4bbls have been hit or miss. This way I have a nice warranty to go with it. I installed the carburetor as well as a GM factory style heat shield that was used on the late 60's, early 70's muscle cars. After a few hours of running and sitting, then running, I am happy to say, I believe my heat soak,fuel boiling issues appear to have have been cured. The boat ran well the entire time we were out on the lake. I would run at various throttle settings then stop for a while, let it sit, trying to heat soak everything. It was nice, when it fired right up and never stalled when throttling down or going thru a wake as it had previously. It was also nice that it would not stall when coming in and out of gear after running hard and going back to idle. It appears I managed to cross another item off my list-next project; new manifolds. The current ones are original 30+ yr old. Time for a change. Looking at the center rise conversion from the log style currently installed. I have seen several companies advertising kits. Is the quality about the same for the all the kits? Thanks again for all the input and suggestions.

 

[geo737]

Well, its a sad day for the Sea Ray. Our boating season came to an end this past weekend. We were out on Lake Washington, everything was going well. I stopped to talk with the other boat I was with- when I throttled back up, there was a loud rattle/knocking coming from the engine compartment. Curious thing is it went away around 2800 RPM, but would come back at a lower RPM level. We turned around and started making our way back to the marina we put in at. We were 3/4's of the way back, when the poor gal gave up and quit. She would start, but when I went to throttle up, she would clatter something terrible and quit again. Out came the tow rope back to the marina, loaded her up and went back out on my buddies boat so the day wasn't a total loss. While we were cruising around, the decision was made to replace the engine. This is a good thing in some respects, as it will give me a chance to really inspect the transom area and replace the bellows, the trim senders and clean up some of the wiring as well as get the manifolds installed. So, my winter project is sitting in my driveway looking at me since this past weekend waiting for me to start the heart transplant. I'll take pictures and let everyone know how I'm coming along. Thanks for all the help and suggestions since I've been with the group. Hope everyone is enjoying the fall boating season. Check back in soon.

 

[Big Island Lifer]

Sorry to hear that your motor finally gave in. Many of us have had to replace our motors and found good news and many have found more problems once they got into it. Best of luck and thanks for letting us tag a long on your adventure.


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[MMcCawley]

Keep us posted on what was causing the noises when you get her torn apart.

 

[OldSkool]

Geo, Man that sucks. You put a lot into this boat so a new motor may be warranted.
I keep tinkering with Old Skool. Maybe next season I can get her back out. Been 2 seasons on the trailer for her.
Winter well my friend and keep us posted.

 

[garyc61]

Sorry to hear of your misfortune.I made the desisoin as well this year to repower after a 4th of July weekend motor loss.1987 268 Searay 454.I took the advantage of pulling it out redoing the engine housing wiring hoses and just made everything look great.Now the rebuild is completed and installed so today we are heading for the lake complete with new exhaust.Just can not get myself to retire the old boat as I just love the style,the teak and no payments!!Take Care and I wish you well.Gary

 

[geo737]

I've been starting the tear down process over the last week, not in a real rush, figure I have an all winter project. I posted some pictures from the preliminary disassembly. Quite interesting-looking forward to seeing what else I find. Upon initial inspection, I found the front half of the engine covered in a fine oil/soot coating. The flame arrester has a nice oily coat where the valve cover breather hoses come in. The carburetor had a coat of oil/soot on the air horns and butterflies. I'm guessing I lost some ring control due to the amount of blowby. I posted some pictures of the oil/soot and what my thermostat housing and manifolds looked like after cutting the hoses. Not too bad for 30+yrs old. LOL I also pulled the drive and found some other fun things to repair. As I was removing the drive, I was getting water coming out-not a good indication all is well. When I got the drive off, the oil/grease was a nice color brown. I'll keep everyone posted along with pictures as I keep going.

 

[Passtime207]

geo737, When l first got my boat l had to replace the engine, p/o didnt winterize it froze and cracked everything water passes through, so l knew starting out what l was up against. All that said, when you get through, the knowlege about your boat and how it works is invaluable. When we are out on the water now, it makes the trips that much sweeter knowing the hard work paid off. Do let us know what you find. May all with the rebuild go smoothly until you hear her exhaust grumbling in the water again.

 

[OldSkool]

Geo, My manifolds were cracked the same way. Right through the petcock holes. Over tightening will cause them to crack. JB Weld won't hold it, I know, I tried it. I scored some great used manifolds on E-Bay for 260USD for the pair. There is a set up for bid right now starting at 90USD each. Mine started at 80 and I won them for 85USD plus shipping. Started installing them tonight and will finish tomorrow night. Good luck getting the nuts off the studs. If you break them off you will need to order new studs using Dorman numbers as they are not stocked in any parts store. PM me if you have issues and I can help with some part numbers.

Whats up with the carb? Bad dirt build up there. That will dust an engine pretty quick.

 

[geo737]

Hey Oldskool, thanks for the heads up on the manifolds. I'll definitely give them a look. The junk on the carb is an oily carbon type substance. Apparently it was pushing oil bad enough past the rings, then through the valve cover breather hoses that go to the spark arrester, the oil/carbon mist turned the spark arrestor black and was enough that it got through to the carb. So, now I'm at a bit of a crossroads as I think about which path to take. I'm thinking of putting a long block in as opposed to a rebuild. The cost will be somewhat less if I go that route, but finding a reputable rebuilder is a concern. I talked to a shop over in Spokane, (I'm in Everett), that looked like a possibility. They had good history, good warranty and used good parts in their rebuilds. They quoted me $1295 for a 5.7 long block. So, I may go that route. With the manifolds, I'm debating converting to center risers from the log style. Price is about the same, but there appears to be few less parts to cause possible leaks or other potential issues. As I was talking to my wife about our "hole in the water", she made a comment to the effect of "its left us sitting a couple times, you've already put some work/time/money into it, don't let it nickle and dime us, do what you need to make it right ", so as a husband, I interpreted that in wifeese as "spend what you need" LOL So, with that approval, I'll make it right without going to overboard if you will. Just have to keep telling myself- remember K.I.S.S.-"keep it simple stupid" LOL

 

[beau]

I've been quietly following your thread-adventure, as I purchased the identical boat at Lake Union a few years back. Same color, engine, outdrive, etc., although rattier than yours. I was only looking for something to bang about in for a few years and just wanted to tidy things up a bit. Long story short, I got a bit carried away, new paint, upholstery, fresh water cooling and anything else I could do. When I bought the boat, I liked the lines, but was completely unaware of the community of fans that this era of SeaRay has. Rest assured that any time and money you spend on your beast will be well worth it! Good Luck!

 

[geo737]

Hi Everyone, Its been quite a while since I've posted. I've been fighting time and the weather. Working outside makes for interesting challenges. Well. I finally have the engine removed and have posted some of the latest pictures of the tear down. I haven't found a definite reason for the rattling of the engine I experienced, but I did find some other interesting items. If I did the attachments correctly, you will be able to see what I found-some of it will leave you, like me scratching your head. On cyl #7, I found a big glob of RTV on the exhaust pushrod. On cyl #8, I found a glob of RTV between the rocker and spring-it was attached to the spring and rocker. Cyl's # 5&7 have evidence of possible water ingestion -I'm still learning about engines and water, but I'm thinking something was going on due to finding evidence of salt deposits on the piston tops. I pulled the exhaust lifter from cyl #6 and found it completley concave, not convex as it should be. When I had the engine inverted looking at the rods and crank, I found small indentations on the bottom of the rod caps-quite interesting, as I didn't find any type of debris in the pan or any other area in the lower crank/block areas. The only thing I did find that was suspect was cyl #1 and cyl #4 had what appeared to have some pieces of the piston skirt may have broken loose at some point. That pretty much sums up the engine for now- one other thing of interest, I had to grind 3 lower head bolts off on the both banks under the exhaust ports for #1,3,5 and #2,4,6- the head bolts had rusted to the point where the socket wouldn't grab the head and just rounded off. One other interesting thing I did find when I removed the engine is the transom area has a bit of rot. There is a piece of what looks like OSB behind the transom plate that the lower portion is rotted. Can anyone give some insight as to why SeaRay would use OSB? I will keep everyone posted to what I find when I dig into that deeper. To Beau, I would love to see a few pics of your boat. I'm beginning to think the small issues are going to turn into something more. Time will tell. Take care everyone, I"ll keep you up to date as I continue this journey

 

[Big Island Lifer]

I doubt Sea Ray used OSB- my guess is that you have a rotted transom and some Previous Owner did a pretty shoddy job of patching it some time ago. You might want to check the stringers as well.

 

[OldSkool]

Geo, good to hear from you again. The engine looks pretty bad. The concave area on the lifters are pretty customary for GM lifter with a lot of hours. Wonder what the cam looks like? Old Skool has a double wall transom at the engine/gimbal housing area. Don't think it's OSB but if it's rotted it may flake and give the appearance of OSB. Yours may have the same reinforcement in that area.

Good luck with the engine swap and transom investigation.

 

[KHE]

No boat builder would use OSB - either someone patched it or as OldSkool stated, it may be rotted plywood that may look similar to OSB.

Were the valve covers sealed to the head with RTV? maybe whoever was inside the engine before used too much sealant and it got inside where it did not belong.

Check the camshaft - most likely, it should be replaced. There was definitely water in the oil. Looks like you're going to have to a complete engine rebuild.

 

[geo737]

I went out today for another look and you guys were correct, its not OSB, just regular plywood. When I looked at it initially, it resembled OSB because of the fiberglass stranding. I do as shown in the pictures have some rot on the transom behind the transom plate. I'm hoping I'll get lucky and only have damage at the plywood behind the transom plate. Did searay use a piece of wood like that to create enough distance so they outdrive input shaft didn't bottom into the hub? It looks like a bit of a chore to replace the complete assy if I have to, both sides around the bilge/transom area appear to be all glasses together. I'm guessing I would have to cut into that to repair/replace the transom wood. I also have quite a bit of work cleaning up the area-lots of old grease and crud. Time will tell. I haven't pulled the cam out the engine yet, so I'm not sure what its going to look like, although I have a sneaky feeling I'll find a couple flat cam lobes. I've run into that before with previous auto engines. The engine is if you will pardon the pun is basically a boat anchor at this point. There is too much corrosion in the block jackets and I had to drill/grind off too many bolt heads to get it apart this far. Something to be said for proper maintainance and storage procedures. The plan at this point is to re-power with a 5.7 (up from a 5.0). I'll keep you up to date as things progress.

 

[geo737]

Hi everyone. Well, I'm getting into the transom. I removed the tripler and found some more wet wood in the transom doubler. I was surprised that it wasn't quite as bad as I was expecting, although there is a good bit of work to be done. I'm thinking at this point, that if I can salvage the transom without going thru a complete replacement. The areas that are bad, I believe I can cut out, patch in a replacement piece and the with a new tripler over top as was original, the integrity of the transom should stay intact. One of things I'm looking at for the moment is trying to dry out the wood with isopropyl alcohol or acetone, as they should help dry and evaporate the water. A heat lamp or quartz light is also in the works to help the drying process.

 

[geo737]

Hi everyone, its been a few weeks from my last update on my transom repair. I have been able to get the project moving again and hopefully I will be able to finish the work within a week or two. To bring everything up to date here's where I'm at and what I've done to reach this point. As you look at the pictures, I cut the lower half of the rotted transom portion away from the boat hull. I cleaned as much of the old, wet wood out as I could. I drilled a few holes at angle thru the original glass covered wood the help with the drying process. After using a heat lamp to dry to the touch what was exposed, I filled the drilled holes with Git Rot to help seal the wood behind the fiber glassed areas. After letting the Git Rot set fro 24 hrs, I sanded the exposed boat hull with 60 grit paper and wiped with acetone in prep of attaching my patch piece. I made my patch piece to fit out of two pieces of 15/32" plywood. I cut two pieces of the plywood to fit the cut out and joined them together with Liquid Nails construction adhesive. When I cut the two pieces of plywood, I cut them so when they were joined, they were joined cross grain. I put he adhesive on with a body putty spreader to get an even coat on one piece, then clamped them together, looking for even squeeze out of the adhesive. After letting the adhesive dry for 36 hrs, I put the patch piece in place then marked and cut the lower keyhole pattern. When I cut the keyhole out, I was happy to see that the laminated plywood gave the appearance of a single piece-no voids were found between the two. I coated the patch on all sides with West Systems Polyester Resin and waited for it to set. Once it set, I positioned the patch in place and used the construction adhesive to attach it to the hull, clamping as needed to get a good bond, looking for even squeeze out of the adhesive. I let the patch clamped for two days to make sure it had plenty of time to cure. I made some peanut butter with micro balloons and powdered silica and used it to fill the gaps in and around the edges of the patch panel. In the interim, I cut a pattern out of cardboard for my triple board and cut and fit it to shape. This I made out of 3/4" plywood. I sanded the patch and original piece to make the surface flat and get for the installation of the triple board. I'm going to resin bond the triple board on with filleting around the edges, then tabbing in the rest of the edges and one or two layers of overlapping 1708 glass cloth. I'm thinking I shouldn't have (hopefully) any issues with strength since I am overlapping the patch piece with a single sheet and all the tabbing I'm going to do. I have a few more pictures to show how its coming along. Sorry for length of the post, but I tried to explain what I did in the hope that it may help someone else who's doing something similar

 

[geo737]

ITS FINALLY DONE! My transom repair is finally complete. Its been quite the adventure to get to this point, but it feels good that now I can move onto getting the rest of the components installed and getting the boat into the water before the end of the summer. A few more snaps show some of the steps I used to get the tripler bonded, some of the tabbing done and the final full covering of glass and the final paint coating. I've learned quite a bit about fiber glassing and working with resins and cloth. One of the most important things to think about when undertaking this type of project is please make sure you have the proper safety gear. I used a respirator for when I was fiberglassing due to the resin fumes and also when I was sanding the fiberglass areas for the repair to get the areas smooth and ready for the next steps. I created an awful amount of dust that would not be the best thing to breathe, so please be careful and protect yourself. I hope the pictures give other folks some ideas on how to approach a similar repair/replacement of the transom wood layers.

 

[alwhite00]

Looks great, what did you coat the bilge with?

LK